Miegunyah House

And then came Sunday. I should have said no, but at the time, I didn't think how exhausted I would be after a full day of costuming. At any rate, I attended a tea at Miegunyah house (a historic house in Brisbane). The ACG were invited to add colour during the opening of their current display - a history of spoons. We had been asked to dress in costumes from the 1890s - 1920s. There were only six of us in attendance, one in 1900s, three in 1910s and two in 1920s.

I was one of the 1920s girls. The thought of re-wearing my Titanic gown had not really appealed to me from the beginning, mainly the thought of trying to wash and dry everything overnight. So instead, I decided to whip up a 1920s ensemble. I started with the undergarments. I made a pair of pink cotton chemise and drawers (pretty much the same as my Edwardian ones), then an underbust corset to suck in my tummy. Next was the slip. Because my outer dress is sheer, I need a slip underneath, it is simply a longer version of my chemise but with gathered tape sections over the hip (I saw this done on an extent example). The final layer was my gown. It is a pink / purple tone sheer chiffon. I drafted the pattern up by butchering a couple of modern patterns, but I was following sewing instructions that I stumbled across online of an actual 1921 gown. I think it turned out well, but unfortunately didn't want to sit in the correct place on my hips and it kept sliding up. But I was happy with it anyway. I would like to make the dress again at some point, but out of a plain cotton voile with the addition of some embroidery for a bit of detail. All in all though, it was nice to be in a different period - especially with the wet weather set in.